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President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s administration would be ready to cooperate with a House of Representatives investigation into the flawed voters list used for the legislative elections, a spokesman said on Wednesday.

Andi Mallarangeng, speaking at the Presidential Palace, said the House of Representatives (DPR) had the right to investigate any allegations and that the administration was ready to cooperate.

He also rejected suggestions that the move was designed to weaken Yudhoyono’s standing among voters.

The House voted on Tuesday to investigate the government’s policy regarding the list, which allegedly prevented millions of people from voting.

Yudhoyono’s Democratic Party voted against the investigation, with its House faction arguing that government policy was not to blame for the fiasco.

The House itself, the Ministry of Home Affairs, the embattled General Elections Commission (KPU) and the Elections Supervisory Board (Bawaslu) have all been blamed for their respective roles in preparing the botched list.

Andi said the House’s decision was not a move by political opponents, including former coalition partner the Golkar Party, to garner support ahead of the July presidential election.

Addressing reports that suggested that all its new coalition partners, with the exception of the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), had voted for the probe and against the stance adopted by the Democratic Party, Andi said he was confident their coalition partners would support the incumbent.

House Speaker Agung Laksono, a Golkar Party leader, also rejected suggestions that the investigation was an attempt to unsettle Yudhoyono’s re-election campaign.

Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) legislator Hasto Kristiyanto claimed that the party was ready to reveal evidence it had collected relating to the massive and systematic voters list fraud in the legislative elections, which resulted in the voices of at least 40 million citizens failing to be counted.

Hasto said the evidence, including recordings of short messaging service and phone conversations, currently in the hands of the PDI-P, showed a secret operation was orchestrated to manipulate votes.

“There are people who used the voters list as a tool to obtain a victory,” he said at the House.

“We’ll reveal it in the investigation meeting during the House’s Special Committee [hearing on the case].”

Hasto said that he understood that there would be heated debate during the investigation sessions, which would be conducted by the special committee, but said that the PDI-P would continue to monitor the process.

“There will be political consequences if there are sides who want to hamper the investigation,” he said.

“We believe that we can reveal the facts with support from the people.”

Hasto said that he hoped that the results of the inquiry would bring the country’s political system back to its democratic roots.

“It can also be used as a reminder to the groups who exploited the voters list as a tool to [manipulate] the election results,” he said.

He said that the members of the House Special Committee [Pansus] who would investigate the case could be approved in a House plenary session next Tuesday.

Legislator Gayus Lumbuun of PDI-P said that the goal of the investigation should be aimed at finding the people responsible for the fraud surrounding the voters list.

“We want to know whether the problems on the voters list were part of an intentional effort by the government or not,” he said.

“The fact remains that all the demographic data was managed by the government, particularly the Home Affairs Ministry.”

PDI-P secretary general Pramono Anung said that political factions in the House ultimately lost the battle when it came to exercising its investigation rights, such as in recent cases involving the fuel price and hajj cases. Yudhoyono did not appear before the House to explain his policy positions during those inquiries.

But Andi said Yudhoyono could be aptly represented by a delegate or delegates.

However, Pramono said his party was confident this time that the results of the investigation would prove significant, adding that the effort was meant to improve the government and KPU’s management of the voters list for the benefit of future democratic elections.